Main Attractions:
Kapil Muni’s Ashrama
Holy Dip at Ganga Sagar
The Royal Bengal Tiger
Where man and nature have formed from time immemorial a dialectical balance of unity. Jungles - the Sundarbans - skirt the waves of the sea _ _the Bay of Bengal. A unique habitat of animals this district also provides one of the best sites where nature’s botanical excellence could flourish. Archaeologists found Diamond Harbour, Baruipur, Mathurapur, Kultali etc. as areas where relics of ancient culture are available in plenty. Kakdwip immortalized by Tebhaga peasant uprisings overlooks Sagar where the Ganga Sagar Mela takes place every year. Housing Kapil Muni’s Ashram it is one of the first ten pilgrimage sites of Hinduism. Shady trees, lush green paddy fields, ancient monuments, varieties of temples, masjids and churches and a population-mix of the most wide range this district is struggling to life from the sublimity of its culture of the vivacity of modernism, from a secular integration of national purposes to the best specimen of unity in diversity that West Bengal and at large India cerie.
Brief History
The district of South Twenty Four Parganas derives its name from the number of parganas comprised in the Zamindari (Land Lordship) of Calcutta(modern Kolkata), which was ceded to East India Company in 1757 by the then Nawab (King) of Bengal Mir Jafar. On the 20th December 1757, Nawab Mir Jafar, made an agreement with the East India Company regarding the Zamindari or landholder’s right over a tract of country known as the Zamindari of Calcutta or as the Twenty Four Parganas Zamindari from the number of parganas including in it. The names of such parganas were :
(1) Akbarpur
(2) Amirpur
(3) Azimabad
(4) Balia
(5) Baridhati
(6) Basandhair
(7) Calcutta
(8) Dokhin Sagar
(9) Garh
(10) Hathiagarh
(11) Ikhtiarpur
(12) Kharijuri
(13) Khaspur
(14) Maidanmal (or Mednimall)
(15) Magura
(16) Manpur
(17) Mayda
(18) Munragacha
(19) Paikan
(20) Pechakuli
(21) Satal
(22) Shahnagar
(23) Shahpur, and
(24) Uttar Pargana.
The tract lay chiefly to the south of Calcutta and comprised an area of 882 square miles. On 1st March 1986, Twenty Four Parganas district has been bifurcated into two districts and North Twenty Four Parganas and South Twenty Four Parganas districts have been commissioned.
References to this portion of the Gangetic delta have been found in the great epic of Mahabharata and some of the Puranas (Hindu holy book) which shows the importance of the landmass even at the dawn of the history. At the time of Raghuvansa, the Pillars of Victory on the isles in the midst of the Ganges was established by Raghu, in all probability, these islands represented the present area of the Twenty Four Parganas. A part of the country of people variously called Gangaridae, Gangaridai, Gangarides etc. were the main habitant in this landmass but till date very little is known about these people. References to this country is also found in the writings of Greek navigators, geographers, chroniclers and historians writing between the first century B.C. and the third century A.D. Accounts taken together of Diodorus Siculus, the B.C. first century historian, Pliny, the first century A.D. historian, Ptolemy, the famous second century geographer and Q. Curtius Rufus, the first century A.D. writer, it seems that the whole of deltaic Bengal lies between the Bhagirathi-Hugli rivers in the west, the Padma-Meghnarivers in the east and the Ganga-Padma rivers in the north and was the land of the Gangaridai people and the present day district of South Twenty Four Parganas occupies the southern part of this tract.
Ptolemy’s map of the second century A.D. shows the south of the delta as cut up by rivers and estuaries to such an extent that it was practically a collection of islands. In the seventh century, A.D., the district may have formed part of the land referred as ‘Samatata’ as described by the Chinese pilgrim Heuen Tsiang (Yuan Chwang). It was a low-lying country bordering of the sea and rich with crops, flowers and fruits. Its climate was soft and its inhabitants were of small stature,hardyand with black complexion. He also mentioned that Buddhism was represented by a large number of Monasteries (Bihar) and Priests but the numbers of Hindu Temples were far greater. Samatata is also mentioned as a tributary frontier kingdom of the Gupta Empire in an inscription of the great Gupta King Samudragupta.
In the opinion of General Alexander Cunningham, often referred as the father of the Archaeological Survey of Indiaduring the nineteenth century, the whole of the delta was between the Bhagirathiriver and the main stream of the Ganges river with its Capital as Jessore in present day Bangladeshwhich was included in the Samatata. But the distances given by Heuen Tsiang seems to indicate that the site of this city must be identified either with Decca (present day Dhaka in Bangladesh) or with some places in the Bikrampur Pargana in the same district. However, there is also a possibility that Samatata appears to be merely another name applied to Vanga on account of its flat and low coast line. A few details of the district may also be granted from a Bengali poem of Bipradasa, dated 1495 and from ‘Ain-i-Akbari’, the sixteenth century book of on the account of the administration and socio-political events during the rule of Mughal Emperor Akbar.
The poem of Bipradasa, which describes the voyage of a merchant named Chand Saudagar from Barddhaman district to the sea, mentions several river-side villages i.e. Bhatpara, Baruipur, Ariadaha and Ghusuri. From ‘Ain-i-Akbari’, we find that the district formed part of the Sarkar or revenue division of Satgaon, which extended from near Sagar Island on the south of a little above Plassey on the north and from the Kabadakriver of the east to beyond the Hugli river on the west. Modern day Kolkata (Kalikata) is mentioned with two other mahals (area) and several of the present Parganas are found in the list of mahals. It is found that the actual ruler of the Sundarbans have been a Hindu Chieftainnamed Pratapaditya, who ruled from 1561 to 1611 A.D., who really enjoyed independence in the south and south-east of the Gangetic delta.
There weretwelve or more kingdomswhichpaid no tribute or displayed royal splendour. They did not call themselves kings but Bhuiyas (Chiefs). Pratapaditya was one of the famous Baro-Bhuiyans (literally meaning Twelve Chieftains) of Bengal and established an independent Hindu rule in Bengal. Pratapaditya fought against the Mughal imperial army during its inroad into Bengal in the early 17th century. His father Shrihari (Shridhar), a Kayastha (a Hindu caste), was an influential officer in the service of Muslim ruler Daud Khan Karrani, the last independent Sultan (Emperor) of Bengal. On the fall of Daud, he fled away and set up a kingdom for himself in the marshy land to the extreme south of Khulna district (presently at Bangladesh) and took the title of Maharaja.
Pratapaditya succeeded to the kingship in 1574. The travel diary of Abdul Latif and the contemporary European writers, all testify to the personal ability of Pratapaditya, his political pre-eminence, material resources and martial strength, particularly in war-boats. His territories covered the greater part of what is now included in the greater Jessore, Khulna, Barisal of present day Bangladesh and large portions of present day South Twenty Four Parganas districts. He established his capital at Dhumghat, a strategic position at the confluence of the Jamuna and Ichhamati rivers. He built Jashoreshwari Kali Temple, two big and four small domed Hammankhana which have a great archeological value.
It is known from the history of the district that during the Muslim rule in Bengal, the area covered by the district at present was included in Satgram Kingdom in Bengal. The civic, criminal and revenue jurisdiction of the district underwent some changes during the period from 1757 to 1800 A.D. In order to overcome administrative inconvenience, the district was divided into parts in 1814 and 1834 A.D. respectively. The jurisdiction of the Sub-divisions was changed as and when required. But afterwards, for administrative exigency the district remained intact for a pretty long time.
During the Wahabi Movement in Bengal under the leadership of Titu Mir (Titu Miyan), a resident of undivided Twenty Four Parganas, against the British Government, the district got highlighted. Another most notable event in the history of the district was the mutiny which broke out among the Sepoys (soldiers) stationed at Barrackpur during the Burmese War (1824). The Sepoys had not enlisted to serve beyond the seas but only in counties to which they could march. Later, again in 1857,the Mutiny broke out in Barrackpur town of the Twenty Four Parganas district. At that time Barrackpur was the Head Quarters of the Presidency Division of the Army, under the command of General John Hearsey. The Sepoys refused in a great extent to use the cartridge greased with fat of cows or swine which the Sepoys had to bite before loading. The mutiny had a great impact not only in the army but also in the civic body. This area achieved its aristocracy through all these events.
In 19th Century, some police stations of Nadia and Jessore districts were amalgamated with the district. In 1861, the district was formed with 8 Sub-divisions viz. (1) Alipur (2) Diamond Harbour (3) Barasat (4) Barrackpore (5) Dum Dum (6) Baruipur (7) Basirhat, and (8) Satkhira. The physical features of the district Twenty Four Parganas are those common to deltaic land within the limits of the Gangetic delta and it is little raised above flood level. Lastly, on 1st March 1986, Twenty Four Parganas district has been bifurcated into two districts and North Twenty Four Parganas and South Twenty Four Parganas districts have been commissioned.
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